Public Statements

Sinema Tapped to Lead Freshman Effort on VAWA, Delivers Letter to House Speaker

Statement

Congresswoman Kyrsten Sinema delivered a letter to House Speaker John Boehner to request that the inclusive Senate version of the Violence Against Women Act be brought to a vote on the House floor. Sinema was tapped by House Minority Whip Steny Hoyer to secure signatures from the freshman class of the 113th Congress.

The letter with 49 signatures read:

As freshmen members of Congress, we are disappointed that the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) that is scheduled to be on the floor this week is not the Senate version of the bill.

We are acutely aware that we were elected to work together in a bipartisan fashion to address the needs of all Americans. Bringing a bill to the floor that varies from the Senate version only exacerbates the delay in providing needed assistance to communities across the country.

"I'm proud to be a part of this effort to secure the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act," said Sinema. "We were elected to Congress to work together in order to help our communities and we've stalled too long on guaranteeing very basic protections for every woman in this country. The reauthorization of VAWA is not partisan; it is not ideological. It's simply the right thing to do."